


These Precious Moments

by oanja



Category: Shelter (2007)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-21 09:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/596382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oanja/pseuds/oanja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As always, the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves calm Zach in a way nothing else even comes close to. He paddles out, each stroke practiced and economical. Once he gets far enough from the beach Zach just sits on his board and takes it all in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	These Precious Moments

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sundaydriver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sundaydriver/gifts).



> A million thanks to my beta.

It’s scarcely five in the morning, and the sun is barely painting the horizon orange when Zach pulls his board from the roof rack. Shaun offers him an excited grin, and Zach has to smile back; it’s pretty adorable how Shaun still gets so excited about this. Cody looks half asleep when Zach hands his board over, but Zach knows not to worry. When they get on the beach Cody will perk up as always.

Once they get on the sand, dump their towels and hoodies, and get the rest of the way into their wetsuits, the horizon is already a bit brighter. The swells look pretty mellow, but that might be a good thing. After all, they can’t spend all morning riding the waves, so it’s better that the conditions aren’t perfect, and they won’t feel too bad when they have to leave.

Zach takes a moment to watch Cody and Shaun bicker about something. It looks like Cody is making fun of the wax job on Shaun’s board but Zach’s not sure. At fourteen Cody is still pretty short and more gangly than anything, his hair grown a bit long over the summer and flopping over his eyes. Right then Zach wishes he did portraits, as he’d love to capture this moment.

His reverie is broken when Cody pokes him in the shins with the tip of his board, saying, “What are you waiting for? Time's wasting. I do need to get to school after this.” 

“Last one in the water pays for breakfast.” Shaun adds, and is already halfway to the shoreline by the time he finishes his sentence. Cody runs after him, shouting about cheating and how it’s the only way he can win anything, considering his age.

Zach grins and jogs after them, not really minding losing this one. Especially because he knows Shaun forgot to bring his wallet, so he’d have needed to pay anyway. Zach prefers this to before, when he was still in school and it chafed sometimes to have to rely on Shaun so much, financially.

As always, the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves calm Zach in a way nothing else even comes close to. He paddles out, each stroke practiced and economical. Once he gets far enough from the beach Zach just sits on his board and takes it all in. He doesn’t come surfing as often as he’d like to, these days. He’s been so busy with the beginning of the semester and all the preparations that entailed, that it had mostly been Shaun and Cody out here these past few weeks.

“You okay?” Shaun asks when he reaches Zach, hooking their ankles together so they won’t drift apart.

“Yeah, just taking a moment to enjoy myself,” Zach admits, grinning. He sees Cody take a wave further down the beach, and the sight of it is spectacular against the backdrop of the rising sun. 

Shaun’s eyes are crinkled in the corners, and he gives Zach one of those fond looks that still squeeze Zach’s heart if he’s not prepared for them. “Just make sure you catch at least a few waves. We didn’t drive all the way here just so you could sit on your ass in water. We have a pool for that.”

Zach splashes water on Shaun’s face in retaliation but just ends up laughing with him right after and leaning in to close the gap between them. Shaun pulls his board closer and reaches for a kiss.

“Could you guys be more lame?” Cody shouts at them as he paddles past, already on a hunt for his next ride.

Shaun laughs into the kiss and pulls away, caressing Zach’s cheek and brushing his thumb over Zach’s lower lip. “We are pretty lame, aren’t we?”

“Maybe,” Zach says and lies back down on his board, deciding he might as well get a few waves before Cody insults him some more.

They are out of the water a little after seven, and in the car and on the road at seven-thirty. Cody needs to be at school by eight-fifteen so they have time to stop at a roadside diner. Cody is ravenous, of course -- and orders half the menu, Zach gets a combo plate and asks the waiter to keep the coffee coming, while Shaun just orders some eggs and toast. Zach hides a smile in his coffee, because he knows Shaun is trying to lose some weight. It’s pretty adorable and wholly unnecessary, but Zach knows not to bring it up.

“Shaun will pick you up after school, okay? I need to go on campus, we’re having staff meetings all afternoon,” Zach reminds the both of them, and watches as Cody grimaces.

“I can’t wait to turn sixteen. You are getting me a car then, right?” he asks, sounding a bit desperate.

“Maybe,” Zach says, mostly just to mess with Cody. It will make all their lives easier when Cody can drive himself to places. Especially because right now Cody is mostly getting rides from an older friend; who insists on being called Tazer, and Zach would really prefer not to have anyone’s life depend on someone with a name like that.

Shaun is playing with his phone but puts it away once the food arrives. Zach hooks his ankle with Shaun's under the table and smiles at him when Shaun looks up from his plate. It’s a nice relaxed breakfast, even if Zach’s arms are already smarting, his body telling him it had been too long since he’d gone surfing and that he’d pay for that later.

Once they are finished eating, Zach pays the bill and leaves a generous tip, smiling at their waiter on his way out, grateful yet again that he doesn’t have to work for minimum wages anymore. Cody is already in the backseat, earphones on, when Zach climbs in. Shaun turns the radio on to NPR, just to annoy Zach, so he rolls his eyes at Shaun, but only changes the channel after ten minutes.

When Shaun pulls over at Cody’s school, Zach turns to look at the backseat and gestures for Cody to take the earbuds out. “You have your phone and lunch money?”

Now it’s Cody’s turn to roll his eyes. “Of course. I’ll see you at home later, try not to die of anxiety while I’m gone.”

Shaun chuckles and offers Cody a fistbump, so Zach feels obligated to punch Shaun in the arm, hard.

“I can’t believe my family is actually this lame. I need to leave before anyone notices,” Cody mocks them but grins at Zach before opening the door and jumping out.

“Take care of my board, but Shaun -- don’t try to wax it, okay? You suck at that.” Cody says in parting, and then he’s swallowed by the throng of teenagers milling about the school gates.

Zach sighs and leans back in his seat as Shaun pulls back into traffic and starts driving them home.

“He’s a good kid, no matter how much he insults my awesomeness,” Shaun offers, and squeezes Zach’s knee.

Zach takes the hand into his own when Shaun tries to pull away and twines their fingers together. “Yeah, he turned out okay.”

“Not just okay, I think we did a great job,” Shaun protests, still smiling.

“He’s not off to college yet. I think we don’t get to pat ourselves on the back before that,” Zach argues, but lets himself enjoy the happy warm feeling he gets when he thinks about them as a family.

“Four more years.” Shaun agrees, making them both laugh.

The sun is shining, the traffic isn’t completely horrible and they still have the whole morning stretching out before them. Time enough to go back to bed, have some lazy morning sex, maybe even take a nap before he needs to get to work. Shaun will laze about the house most of the day and then complain about not making any progress in his latest novel when Zach gets back home.

“I feel like fish for dinner. I’ll go by the market when I get Zach from school,” Shaun promises, and Zach smiles.

It all sounds pretty perfect to him.


End file.
